BV4000 Leaf Hog Leaf Blower Review

Black & Decker's BV4000 Leaf Hog leaf blower ("hand-held lawn vacuum") has a blow speed of up to 230 mph, which will make the most stubborn leaf in your yard tremble. That, plus easy assembly, earns this blower a thumbs up. One top complaint concerns the cord retainer on the leaf blower, a built-in feature just behind the prongs where you plug in the extension cord. There's just one groove here in which a cord may rest, and it's not expandable. If the cord seems too thick for it, damage may occur to the cord by forcing it in.

Note: After this review was written, Black & Decker upgraded to the 4500 model to an even newer model.

Cons

Description

Added power didn't come at the expense of increasing the weight of the BV4000 leaf blowers (compared to the older model).

Leaf blowers are not just for blowing leaves -- great for cleaning pine needles off driveways, too.

Variable speed in both leaf blower and leaf vacuum mode.

​Review - BV4000 Leaf Hog Leaf Blower

I admit it: I'm not a "gadget guy." Not only that, when trying out new leaf blowers, studying the manual is not the top priority. I shouldn't have to go through that much trouble before the true work even begins. Leaf blowers that are hard to assemble send me scurrying for my rake.

All of which makes me a tough critic of leaf blowers. Leaf blower assembly should be reasonably intuitive. Also, switching from leaf blower mode to lawn vacuum mode shouldn't be difficult. Along with blowing/sucking power (which is excellent for these leaf blowers/lawn vacuums), those are the features that make or break leaf blowers.

Black & Decker's BV4000 Leaf Hog leaf blowers pass the test. Although I did have to peek at the manual a few times, assembly and mode-changing were pretty straightforward. For those of you who are gadget-challenged, note that you'll get nowhere until you locate the release button at the front of the powerhead. Depressing that release button is what allows you to (dis)assemble. Further note that the release button won't work unless you set the ON/OFF switch to OFF.

Disclosure: Review samples were provided by the manufacturer. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.